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Jaime Napier is an Assistant Professors of Psychology at Yale University. Her primary research interest is the effects of societal injustice, including how members of advantaged and disadvantaged groups diverge in their perceptions and explanations of injustice; how political and religious ideologies may ameliorate the outrage associated with perceived injustice; and the consequences of accepting […]

Situationist Contributor John Jost recently co-authored a brief comment, titled “Virtue ethics and the social psychology of character: Philosophical lessons from the person–situation debate,” which will be of interest to many of our readers. Here are the opening paragraphs. * * * A venerable tradition of ethical theory drawing on Aristotle’s Ethics still flourishes alongside […]

Craig Lambert has a worthwhile interview with Situationist friend, Dan Gilbert (author of the best-selling 2007 psychology book Stumbling on Happiness and host of the recent PBS television series This Emotional Life.), in the current issue of Harvard Magazine. Here are some excerpts. * * * In a recent issue of Science, Gilbert and […]

From BBC Website : Adam Curtis’ acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty. * * * To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may […]

From BBC Website : Adam Curtis’ acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty. * * * To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may […]

From Wikipedia: Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings. His influence on the twentieth century is generally considered profound. The series describes the ways public relations and politicians have utilized Freud’s theories during the last 100 years for the “engineering of consent.” * * * Freud […]

One week before Valentine’s Day, Jessica Pauline Ogilvie published an interesting article, titled “Scientists Try To Measure Love,” for the Los Angeles Times. Here are some excerpts. * * * Whatever its reason, there can be little doubt — even from a scientific standpoint — about the potent feelings that being in love elicits. Arthur […]

Barry Schwartz is the Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College. Barry Schwartz studies the relationship between economics and psychology, delivering startling insights into modern life. In his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice, Schwartz tackles one of the great mysteries of modern life: Why is it that societies of […]

Below, we’ve posted titles and a brief quotation from some of the Situationist news over the last several weeks. * * * From BBC News: “What’s my brain’s motivation?” “For an actor, the performance conditions weren’t exactly ideal: flat on her back in a large machine, under strict instructions to lie as still as possible, […]

Yamin Anwar wrote an interesting press release about recent and ongoing research at University of California, Berkeley suggesting that the kindest, and not just the fittest, survive. Here are some excerpts. * * * Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a […]

Sheena Iyengar is a professor in the Management Division of the Columbia Business School. One of the world’s experts on choice, Professor Iyengar received a dual degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, consisting of a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business and a B.A. in psychology with a minor in […]

For the Harvard Law Record, Harvard Law Students, Anush Emelianova and Gustavo Ribeiro, wrote a nice summary of Dan Gilbert‘s recent lecture at Harvard Law School. His lecture, titled “Why Does the Brain Scare Itself?,” drew a crowd of roughly 150 students and contributed to Gilbert’s reputation as an amazing and captivating speaker. Here’s […]

Situationist friend Dan Gilbert, who will be speaking today at Harvard Law School (details here), recently completed another fascinating TedTalk. Here is their summary: “Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness — sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. Watch through to the end […]

Barbara Ehrenreich’s terrific, highly situationist, new book is now on the shelves, Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America. From a related Time Magazine article here’s a brief sample of her writing on the topic of optimism. * * * If you’re craving a quick hit of optimism, reading a news […]

From BigThink: “For however elusive happiness is to define, there are very specific things people can do each day that are proven to increase happiness: Tal Ben Shahar has spent his career studying them. He gave Big Think several practical happiness tips, including changing your calendar, buying a notebook, and changing your approach to car […]

From the University of Rochester (press release): Want to be a better person? Commune with nature. Paying attention to the natural world not only makes you feel better, it makes you behave better, finds a new study to be published October 1 in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. “Stopping to experience our natural surroundings […]

This spring, Situationist friend, Dan Gilbert published another illuminating and entertaining op-ed, titled “What We Don’t Know Makes Us Nervous,” (New York Times, May 21, 2009). Here’s an excerpt. * * * Seventy-six years ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took to the inaugural dais and reminded a nation that its recent troubles “concern, thank God, only […]

This summer, I have finally gotten around to reading Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s book Nudge and, unsurprisingly, there is much in the book that parallels situationist work. Indeed, many (if not most) of the referenced social psychology experiments and dynamics should already be familiar to readers of this website. One paragraph that I came […]

With the U.S. celebrating Independence Day — carnivals, fireworks, BBQs, parades and other customs that have, at best, only a tangential connection to our “independence,” — we thought it an opportune moment to return to its source in search of some situationism. No doubt, the Declaration of Independence is typically thought of as containing a […]